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Fizzy Sidewalk Art

I was browsing for a fun outdoor activity one sunny day, when I found this on Kids Activities (http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/). You should check out this blog, it has tons of activity ideas for growing toddlers.

Make a little paint drawing together with your little one and then spray the work with vinegar when you’re done. The vinegar makes the paint fizz and bubble away. It is a fun way to do some drawing as well as learning a bit of science at the same time! My boy loves chalk drawing, he loves being outside and he loves his spray bottle! This activity combines all of three.

Recommended for children age 2 years and over.

We really love this activity! It exercised many different aspects of his developments. It enhances his attention span as we spent a few hours on this. It also encourages his creativity drawing lots of different objects. Holding the paint brush encourages pre-writing skills, fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. As he moves around the place to look for more space to draw, he is using his vestibular sense & spatial orientation. Love how he used all his senses to experiment as well as using some observation skills (one of science skills) to a conclusion.

I started with painting some shapes on the ground. Then he followed with his favourite colour. “Mummy, I’m making daffodils!” as he stroked his brush on the driveway. “Would you like to try to spray your painting?” i said. He grabbed the spray bottle and started to spray away! After a few sprays, he started to notice a reaction from his paint. “Mum… it’s fizzling! Can you see, can you see?” pointing to his painting. “I want to touch it, Mum!”. He touched the bubbles and laughed.“It’s cold.” He picked up his brushes again and continued to draw, “It’s a footprint! It’s a fish!” He clearly enjoyed himself, as he talked throughout the activity, pretended to give some water to the fish he drew, and so on. He also tried to spray his painting with some water wonders, “Oo.. it’s not fizzling!” After a few trial and errors, followed by our discussion that the yellow spray bottle was filled with some vinegar and the blue one was filled with some water. He tasted it, smelled it, he felt it on his skin! He made his own a conclusion, “Vinegar makes fizzle!”.

Materials

½ cup cornflour

2 cups baking soda

Warm (more to hot) temperature water

Food colouring / washable poster paint

Paint pot

Paint brushes

Spray bottle filled with vinegar

Spray bottle filled with water

Instruction

Put baking soda, corn flour together on a container. Slowly add water and mix it well.

Pour it onto the paint pot and bring outside on a beautiful sunny day & paint away on the driveway / sidewalk.

Wait a little for it to dry and then spray the vinegar on the paint.

Let the observation begin: What happen if I spray with vinegar? What happen if I spray with water? What happen if I wait the next day when the paint is dried?

Note: My son wasn’t patient enough to wait for the paint to dry, but it still work well on wet paint. Provide supervision at all times when playing outdoors. Ensure you choose an area is safe, away from any vehicles and traffic.